


Intangible Wounds

by fuchsiarain



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, F/M, M/M, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-03-15 13:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3449072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuchsiarain/pseuds/fuchsiarain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>May had high hopes when she and her mother moved to Littleroot. She was looking forward to seeing and training with her father. But most of all, she wanted to see her old friend that she still had feelings for. The last thing she was expecting was becoming a part of the infamous organization known as Team Magma...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this turns out well... Suggestions for this fic are more than welcomed. I'm also on tumblr under the url goldenaltaria if you want to contact me there. And as always, kudos and feedback are much appreciated.

She was alone in her room as soon as the tears began to well up in her eyes. What she heard was too much for her to bear, too horrible for any girl her age to handle.

It was less than an hour ago when a thunderstorm hit the city of Petalburg, along with several others. Her father was still there, ignorant of what would soon end his life. Imagining the scene alone was enough for her to ball her eyes out: Her father, heading on his way home, hoping to see his family, with him a few Pokepuffs for May to give to the Torchic she had gotten earlier that day. He must've been so proud to hear that his daughter was going to leave for her trainer journey the following day. 

Then the lightning bolt missed a tree, striking him instead, ending the life of a once proud father.

May didn't want to leave for her journey anymore. She didn't want to stay here either. She wanted to be alone, away from those who also once knew her father. The young girl looked out the window in her room. The thunderstorm had calmed down, but only a bit. The lightning was gone and only thunder and heavy rain remained. 

Rain or not, tonight she was going to leave no matter what.

May glanced over to the clock in her room. It was ten o'clock at night. She listened for any signs that her mother was still downstairs. Dead silence. Now was better than ever for her to leave. 

The girl quietly made her way down the staircase and to the front door. Before she could open the door, May realized it would be stupid of her to go without leaving something behind for her mother. Over at the living room table was a notepad and pen. She walked over and began writing  a short letter for her mom. 

_ Mom,  _

_ I apologize in advance for doing this to you. I just feel the need to be on my own for a while. I hope you understand. _

_ -Your daughter, _

_ May _

May set down the pen next to the paper and looked over the note. Tears began to form in her eyes again. One accidentally got on the paper, smudging the ink near where she wrote her name. 

She made her way to the door once again and looked back at the house one last time. Knowing it would be the last time she would see it for some time felt bittersweet. A small smile formed on her face before she turned back to the door. She turned the knob and opened herself up to the storm raging outside. 

She took one step outside and closed the door behind her. Already the rain had began to pelt against her. The drops were cool, mixing the hot outdoor temperature with its cold touch. She knew it wouldn't be long before someone in town would notice her, so she began to sprint up to route 101.

The world felt like a blur to her as she ran away from Littleroot. All that she brought with her began to shake around. _Sorry Torchic..._ May thought, noticing her supplies jostling around.

It took her well over an hour before she made it to Rustboro City. By then, she was more than exhausted from all her running. She knew she needed a break before moving on to wherever it was she planned on going. Lucky for her, there was a warehouse for her to stay in for the time being. She trudged her way to the entrance and opened the large door. She walked in and had a look around to make sure no one else was there. No signs of life to be found. She sighed and sat down to rest on one of the many crates there. 

May searched through her supplies to look for some water to rehydrate. She brought out a water bottle and began to drink it down. Once she finished, she reached to put the bottle back when she accidentally dropped it onto the floor. She groaned and kneeled down to pick it up when she heard the sound of something else dropping close by. She perked up her head and looked around to find where it came from. "Who's there?!" She asked.

"Dumbass! What are we supposed to do now?!" A loud whisper could be heard from behind a long row of crates on the other side of the warehouse.

May got up and put her bottle back before heading over to see who the other people  were. She cautiously made her way over, hoping the people wouldn't be able to hear her moving. She stopped right in front of the crates and looked down at the people.

They were two guys, looking to be about the same age, wearing matching red uniforms. "Way to go dipshit! Now we don't have any place to hide for the night!" One of them snarled at the other.

"I already said I was sorry!" The other snapped back.

"Who are you two?!" May demanded.

"What, you can't tell?" The two got up, "We're employers from Team Magma! Now get lost so we don't have to!" The second grunt answered.

"What's a kid like you doing here anyway? Isn't it way past your bedtime?" The first grunt asked slyly. 

May scowled, feeling aggravated by him.

"Yeah, why don't you go home to your daddy and mommy, kiddo?" The other teased her.

She didn't even have a father anymore. Her anger began to well up as she clenched her fists. "Aw, what's the matter, little bitch? You gonna cry for your daddy? Your mommy?" The first grunt laughed at her.

At that moment, something unfamiliar overcame her. At that moment, the young girl snapped, her anger and sorrow overcoming her. May grabbed the first grunt by his hooded top with one fist, and punched him square in the face with the other.

The man yelped with pain. He barely had any time to react before she hit him again, this time in the stomach. The other grunt was far too paralyzed with fear to defend his comrade and watch with fear as May continued attacking him. She grabbed him by his hood and kneed him in the nose. Blood spurted out and he choked, unable to react in any way to her attacks. 

She shoved him to the ground and jumped on top of him. She swung more punches at his face as he cried for mercy from her. More and more blood began to stream down his nose and mouth as she continued to beat him senselessly. "You ignorant...stupid...PIECE OF SHIT!" She barked at him.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU WORTHLESS PRICK!" She screamed.

The other grunt came back to his senses and tried to pull her away from his friend. She turned back to him and punched him, freeing herself from his grasp. "I'll get you next, you bastard!" She snarled.

"...Enough..." 

May stopped attacking the man and looked up. Another girl had shown up, she looked slightly older than her and had a uniform similar to the two men. The girl approached the scene and offered May help up. She smiled at her and kept her grip on her hand. "Impressive...I had...been searching for these two who left the group...but I found you...instead..." The girl had a strange way of talking to her. It sounded almost inhuman.

"Um...thank you?" May wasn't quite sure how to respond to her statement.

"These two are useless...But you are not..." The girl began, "I am...Courtney...And I want you to join...us...Team Magma." 

"Why should I?" May questioned.

"You are worthy...worthy of helping us...improve the world."

May thought for a moment on the offer she had been given. Was there really any reason for her to object? Although she wasn't quite sure what this "Team Magma" was or what they planned on doing to "improve" the world, was there really any other place for her to turn? She was alone now. She had no one to help her now. No one except this team. She smiled at Courtney. "Sure, I'll join you." She answered.

The girl gave her a slight smile. "Excellent..." Courtney glared at the two now fired grunts before turning to the door. "Follow me." 


	2. A New Order

In one of the many halls of Team Magma's lair, a newly recruited grunt was busy tugging at her uniform's sweater as she followed the admin. So far, the admin, Courtney, had been going over the basics to working as a grunt. Currently, the two were touring the base as a part of what May needed to know before officially starting. The grunt quit pulling on her uniform and focused her attention on her surroundings. The place, to say the least, was rather odd in appearance. The other people here must’ve been pretty insane to be content with being close to tubes of magma, especially in the already warm outfits they all wore.

May’s looking around was put to an abrupt stop as Courtney turned around to face her, donning her usual deadpan expression. “That’s about all the places in the base…any questions?” She asked.

May felt a small shiver go up her spine looking at the monotonous admin, and straightened herself up before speaking.“Well, uh, I know you said grunts aren’t allowed near the warp pads unless given permission to but…you never mentioned whether or not we’re allowed on that one at all,” she asked nervously, pointing to the area behind the admin.

Courtney looked behind her, seeing what warp pad May was talking about, then turned back to her. An exasperated expression spread across the young woman’s face as soon as she replied to the grunt. “That warp pad…is strictly forbidden. Stay away from it…unless…you have a death wish,” she told her grimly.

The young grunt felt even more afraid upon this statement and merely stood there, agitated by Courtney. Before she could think of something to break the awkward silence, the admin began walking forward towards the set of warp pads. “For now…since you haven’t received any assignments…you can go see the rest of the grunts in your room.” Courtney turned towards May again before the warp pad flashed her out of her sight.

The grunt relaxed herself and let out a sigh of relief. If she had any idea that Team Magma could be so strict, she may not have agreed to join them. But clearly it was too late to turn her back on them. Especially since she had no place else to turn to, being a runaway. All she could do now was follow the authority and see what good could come from doing so.

The first step to doing this was following what was last said to her before Courtney left. May turned around and walked towards the grunts' room. It didn't take her long to make it there, thanks to her catching some of what Courtney had said during the tour. Once she reached the door, it was closed just as she had seen it the last time. Several people could be heard inside, but the conversations they were having were inaudible to her. Quickly, May knocked on the door with light taps, waiting for one of the many voices that could be heard inside to answer it. Noticeably, a few of the voices had stopped talking after she knocked. The door began to turn and opened up to reveal another girl on the other side of it.

The girl appeared to be around the same age as May was, most likely a bit older. She had dark blue hair down to her shoulders, slightly tanned skin, and bright amber colored eyes. The girl adjusted her small square glasses before she spoke, "Are you a new recruit?" She asked her.

"Y-yeah." May spoke sheepishly. 

The girl gave her a small smile, "Don't worry, I'll help you find a bed that's open if you'd like."

"Oh, thanks." She returned the smile to the girl.

The girl let her in the room, finally allowing May to see what the grunts' room was like on the inside. It was pretty much what she had expected it to be. The place appeared to be as most average dormitory rooms were, filled up with a few simple beds in each row. Despite having low expectations from the start, May still couldn't help but feel underwhelmed by it all.

"Yeah, it's kinda cramped in here, but you gotta take what you can get in this place," the girl said.

"I'll get used to it." May shrugged.

"Now then," the girl walked in front of her, "Would you like a bed closer to the door, or further away near mine?" She asked her.

"Uh, further away if you don't mind." May answered.

"Of course not. Actually, it's probably the best area in the room. Well, at least to me it is." The girl let out a small laugh.

The other grunt sat down on what May assumed to be her bed and pointed to the one left to it. May nodded and sat down on the one the girl gestured to. She turned to her and smiled slightly at her. "Oh by the way, my name's Linda." The girl mentioned to her.

"I'm May. Thanks for the help." She replied.

"No problem. Gotta help the new meat, ya know?" Linda said jokingly.

"Right. Speaking of help...do you know anything about the warp pads?" May asked.

"Yeah, I suppose so...from what I've heard from others."

"Well then, do you know anything about the one Courtney said is 'forbidden'? She didn't really tell me anything about it and I can't help but wonder what's so secretive about it." May tried to explain to Linda.

"Oh, I know which one you're talking about! Yeah, she says that to all the new grunts here. From what I've heard, that's the warp pad that leads straight to the leader's room."

"The leader...I don't really know anything about him. I don't even know his name." May said, a bit embarrassed by her lack of knowledge.

"His name is Maxie. Beyond that, most grunts don't learn much else about him, actually. The only other thing you'll need to know about him is his awful temper."

"Oh God...I guess that's one reason Courtney doesn't want grunts in his room."

"You can say that again." Linda said with a slight giggle.

As soon as she finished her statement, an alarm flashed and beeped all across the room. The other grunts that were talking began to get up and file out the door. Linda got up along with them and turned back to May. "Sorry about that. After a while you get used to the alarm. Now come on, everyone's gotta head out for an announcement."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for waiting so long to work on the new chapter for this. But now that it's summer, I'm hoping to get this fic done at a much faster pace with all the free time I have. Perhaps I can finish it by the end of August? That's wishful thinking, but who knows.
> 
> An additional note about this chapter, I decided to change the way the base works a bit, having the rooms for grunts be accessible without using warp pads. Since I did this, I hope the way places are described are fairly straightforward.


	3. Beginner's Objective

Several rows of Team Magma grunts were filed closely together already as soon as May and Linda made it to the room. Because of the large group of grunts that arrived before them, the two were forced to stand far away from the front of the crowd. May became frustrated by this, as it was difficult to see the ones speaking. She stood on her tiptoes and looked over the row of grunts standing in front of them. Finally, she was able to see the trio that was preparing to speak to all of them.

The only one she could instantly recognize was Courtney with the usual blank expression on her face. There was a man on the other side who appeared to be around the same age as Courtney, with a round body and short black hair with side swept bangs. His eyes, oddly enough, appeared to be practically closed. At the center of the trio was a taller man who she could instantly tell was older than the other two. The man had neck length bright red hair swept to the side and slightly spiked in the back. The color of his bright blue eyes could be easily seen behind his uniquely designed dark glasses.

May raised her feet down and leaned in towards Linda, "I'm guessing the guy in the middle is Maxie?" she asked her.

"Yup, that's him. And the other guy is Tabitha. Both he and Courtney are the team's admins." Linda explained to her.

Before May could say anything else to her, the entire crowd of grunts was silenced by a signal given to them by Tabitha. "Quiet all...the announcement shall now commence," Courtney spoke.

The grunts all stood up straight, focusing their attention on their leader, waiting for him to commence the meeting. He placed his arms behind his back before he spoke. "Thank you, Courtney. The reason we've called you all here is that we have a new mission for all of you. Tomorrow, we shall all be heading to Slateport City; more specifically the Oceanic Museum." Maxie began, "Due to the failure of a mission that occurred earlier today in Rustboro, the next place for us to look for the Devon parts is there - from Captain Stern." 

May leaned towards Linda once again, "What are the Devon parts?" she whispered to her.

"From what I've heard, we're trying to get them for construction on a submarine." Linda whispered back.

May raised an eyebrow and decided not to ask anything else and went back to listen to the announcement. "I expect you all to head out to Slateport City by noon tomorrow. I will be arriving shortly after you've made it there." Maxie continued, "That is all. You shall spend the rest of your time today preparing yourselves and your Pokemon." The leader turned his back on the crowd and moved towards the warp pad leading to his room. The two admins followed before leaving to go on different warp pads. 

The group of grunts began to talk among themselves once more, parting ways from each other, going off to do what they needed to before leaving tomorrow. May and Linda both decided to head back to their room along with several others.

* * *

That evening, shortly before the lights were scheduled to turn off, May had gone and released her Torchic from his Pokeball. It was the first time she had seen him since she got him from Professor Birch. To think that was so recently; for her it felt much longer ago. The Torchic was settled down in her lap now, refusing to move unless he was the one to do so. Linda looked at the two from where she was sitting on her bed along with her own Pokemon, a Numel. "Looks like you two aren't going to get any training done any time soon." Linda grinned at her.

May sighed, "It's not my fault. I guess since I left Torchic in his Pokeball so long, he wanted to relax a bit after being let out." 

"You know how tough he is in battle yet?" The dark haired girl asked.

"Er...not exactly, considering I haven't had a real battle with him yet..." She admitted.

"Well, I know my little Numel here can handle herself in battle, so if you need it we'll gladly help you out in a fight." Linda reassured her, a small smile softening her expression.

"Thanks." May smiled back, appreciating the offer for help in the future.

Before the conversation could go any further, a loud voice commanded, "Lights out!" 

Seconds after those words were shouted, the entire room went dark, causing the two to barely be able to see each other. Torchic jumped a little, surprised by the sudden darkness filling the room. May couldn't help but smile at her Pokemon's adorable reaction and picked him up to put him on the floor to sleep for the night. The Torchic resettled in the new spot and tucked his head into the rest of his body to sleep. May grinned at him again, "Good night, little guy." She spoke softly.

May looked back over at Linda who was still up, even after putting her Pokemon on the floor as she did. May could barely tell the girl was looking at her in the pitch black room. "I forgot to ask you..." Linda began, "Are you nervous for your first mission?" She inquired.

May looked down for a second before answering the question, "I...I think I am. As much as I'd hate to admit it..." her voice trailing off for a moment before continuing what she was trying to say, " I guess why though is...I-I don't know what'll happen or how well I'll do on it." 

"I understand. Everyone gets nervous on the first day of the job. It's definitely not going to be easy at the beginning, but once you get the hang of things, it'll be smooth sailing for ya." Linda laid down and began to stare up at the ceiling, "Who knows, with the two of us working together, we could work our way up and become the top in our rank. Maybe even further." She spoke, sounding as if her thoughts were becoming the words she was saying to her.

"Yeah..." May agreed, lying down and looking up at the ceiling above her as Linda did, "Who knows what could happen..." 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me if I got some of the bits in this related to the game plot wrong... At this rate, I'm hoping to get a chapter or two done each week.


	4. Unexpected Visitors

Noon came faster than May had expected. The trip the grunts took to get over to Slateport City to her, was fairly short despite the actual distance there was between the Magma base and the city. As expected, May followed behind Linda to the museum. Her surrounding in the city were unfamiliar to her, as she never traveled to this area of Hoenn. Even if she had with her family at some point, it was far too long ago for her to remember.

Already on their way there were people giving the group of grunts strange looks. May could vaguely hear the citizens talking to each other about the workers of Team Magma. The people were saying things along the lines of "Who are those people?" and, "What strange outfits they have on.”  Hearing these judgmental conversations between them irked May a bit.

Walking a bit further, the two found the Oceanic Museum along with most of the others of their group. The ones who were in front of them had already formed a line that had stretched outside of the building. May raised an eyebrow and looked over at Linda, "Why do we have to wait in a line? Don't we just go right in?" she asked.

"Oh, that's right. Everyone must pay individually before we can get in. Probably because we'd get in trouble right away if we didn't." Linda answered.

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense. I wouldn't know anything about it though." She admitted, being unfamiliar with the city and all.

The two grunts got in line like the rest of the group had and waited for their turn to pay admission. May was lucky to have kept the bit of pocket money on her from before she left home. Meanwhile, people were still looking at the group of grunts and quietly talking about them to each other. She clenched her fists, trying to bottle up her irritable feelings and controlling the impulse to yell at them.

A few minutes later, the line moved to the point where May and Linda managed to get inside the Oceanic Museum. Once the two were in there, the others that were in the building were a bit shocking to them. There was another group of people wearing instead a blue and black color schemed uniform. The opposite group was getting into small Pokemon battles with the group from Team Magma, which raised even more questions for May. Once the two finished paying at the reception desk, May asked Linda another question. "Who are those other people and why is our group fighting them?" She whispered as she looked at one of the many fights going on.

May looked back at Linda and was a bit shocked at her sudden change of expression. Linda scowled, "That's Team Aqua. The only thing we know about them is that they're an organization whose motivation is the opposite of ours. In other words, they're our rivals." 

"Rivals huh?" May reached into one of the pockets attached to her short for her Pokeball, "In that case, you think we should help the other grunts in beating them?" She asked with a small smirk.

"Be my guest." Linda gave a small smile, gesturing for May to move ahead and challenge one of the grunts of Team Aqua. 

May moved forward, walking towards one of the few rival grunts who wasn't already involved in a fight. The guy looked over at her once she got closer, raising an eyebrow and frowning slightly at her. "What do you want?" He asked her.

"What do you think, moron?" She replied in a confident tone of voice.

The guy snorted, getting out a Pokeball as she had. He threw the ball in front of them, revealing the Carvanha that was kept in it. May did the same and released her Torchic, who was well rested and ready to fight. Linda decided to watch the fight from May's side. "Careful fighting him May, he has a type advantage against your Torchic." She told her softly.

May nodded slightly to her and commenced the battle. "Torchic, scratch!" She commanded.

The Torchic jumped up into the air, scratching the Carvanha from above. The opponent jolted back, reacting to the pain inflicted on him. The Aqua grunt scowled at her, thinking for a moment before making his move in the fight. The scowl turned into a mischievous smile quickly before announcing his attack. "Use Aqua Jet!" He shouted. 

May nearly jumped at the sound of this move. Before she could tell Torchic to dodge it quickly, the Carvanha had already shot at him, inflicting critical damage. Her eyes grew wide, feeling a surge of panic, unsure of what Torchic was capable of doing to defend himself. "Now, use crunch!" The Team Aqua grunt used the window of time to be able to get another attack in before Torchic could.

The Carvanha sunk it's teeth into Torchic, causing the smaller Pokemon to cry out in pain. May became even more shocked, nearly paralyzed in fear. It was too late for her to command him to use another move, Torchic had fainted. She lowered her head down and lifted the Pokeball up again to let her Torchic back in it. "That was pathetic! You barely even damaged my Pokemon! Why don't you challenge me again when you actually know what you're doing?" He boasted to her.

At that moment, May felt a familiar surge of rage towards him. At that moment, she decided to do the only other thing she could to defeat him. Quickly, she lifted her head up again and jolted at him.

"Wha-" before he could even speak a full word, May ran up to him, turning around, and elbowing him straight in the stomach.

A small wad of spit spilled out of his mouth as soon as she hit him. Before he could defend himself, May used the same arm she elbowed him with and hit him again, this time with an uppercut to the bottom of his head. Since his neck continued to be exposed to her, she grabbed it with one hand and proceeded to punch him square in the face. The guy covered his face as blood began to splurge out of his nose. Linda finally managed to get in the middle of the fast moving fight, blocking May from hitting the grunt anymore. "May! That's enough!" She shouted.

May continued to look angry at her friend before taking in what she had said to her. The girl relaxed herself and put her arms to her sides. The guy lowered his hands from his face, revealing the bloody nose he had to them. Fear was written all over his face as he looked at the two girls, "Y-you're insane!" He exclaimed.

May only growled as a response. The Aqua grunt gave her a disturbed look before he ran off to the other side of the building's room. She remained looking angry as she watched the coward run away from both her and Linda.

* * *

 

The leader of Team Magma had arrived quietly to the Oceanic Museum's second floor shortly after all of the grunts had gotten into the building. The other two grunts who were already up there stood up straight as a sign of respect towards him. "Sir, we've gotten the Devon parts." One of them announced to him. Captain Stern was behind the group, unable to fight back for the parts. 

"Good work you two." Maxie spoke. 

The grunt holding the parts saluted him before moving out so he could take them without before any others tried to get them from him.

"Hold it!" A shout was heard from behind them, coming from a Team Aqua grunt. 

Maxie frowned slightly, barely intimidated by him. The leader walked up to the grunt and the shorter man by his head, throwing him down at his side. Maxie didn't even look as the grunt fell to the ground and gestured for the grunt with the Devon parts to move ahead. He turned back to the other grunt, about ready to say something to him. Before he could speak, he heard the sound of another person entering. He turned around to see who it was that had arrived and fell silent upon seeing them.

It was him.

Maxie recognized those piercing red eyes and that x shaped scar anywhere. It was him. It was Archie. 

The two stared at each other, expressionless, for what felt like ages to Maxie. He had bated breath, stunned and unsure of what to do except just stare at the face he never could or wanted to forget. The gazes were interrupted when one of the Team Magma grunts spoke, "S-sir?" He stuttered.

Maxie broke the trance and turned to the grunt speaking to him. "We've already gotten the parts out of the building. There's no further business to attend to here." He moved ahead to go down the stairs, giving Archie one last look before exiting the room. The grunt hurried behind him, afraid of the Team Aqua Leader still there.

* * *

Shortly after the leader of Team Magma exited the building, the rest of the team followed behind him, including May and Linda. The only ones left in the Oceanic Museum were the members from Team Aqua. The grunt who faced May in both a Pokemon and psychical fight hobbled over to another of his team's rank. He wiped the blood dripping down his face before he began talking to him. "Did you see what happened over there? Some girl from Team Magma went and wailed on me because she couldn't accept losing a battle." He said, trying to grab his attention.

The other grunt turned to him and gave a slightly confused face. "Huh? No, sorry." He let out a small laugh as he spoke.

"Hmm, whatever. You're not really one for paying attention are you, Brendan?"

Brendan gave a giant grin to the other grunt before answering him. "You're not the first to tease me about it. It used to constantly annoy my old friend May."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter was a bit later than the last one. But hopefully I've made up for it since it's the longest one I've written.


	5. The Other Side

_As the sun began to set across the Hoenn region, a young boy was out exploring. He was at the outreaches of Oldale Town, a place close to where he lived. The boy looked at his own reflection in the small pool of water just below where he was kneeling down, oddly fascinated by it. Moments after he began looking down at it, another reflection was barely seen by him before moving away from the sight of the pool. The boy, Brendan, turned around, trying to catch who or what it was that had appeared beside him. Nothing seemed to be out in the open anymore, leaving him feeling slightly confused._

_“Is someone there…?” He asked, hoping the figure would reveal itself to him by talking._

_There was a moment of dead silence before the mysterious figure that had startled him walked out from behind a tree where they had been hiding . The figure was another boy who looked to be around his age, with both short, darker hair and skin than Brendan. He was sporting a rather odd outfit that consisted of a blue and white striped shirt and tights, ripped dark brown pants with a sash in a similar color over them, and a dark bandanna with an unfamiliar white symbol on it. The boy gave him a puzzled look, “Are you…Brendan?” he asked._

_"Y-yeah? How did you know?” Brendan asked, unsurprisingly shocked that the stranger acted as if he knew him._

_“Brendan, it’s me Sean! Don’t you remember me? We used to hang out all the time when we were little!”_

_Brendan’s eyes widened, “Sean?!” he hadn’t heard that name in what felt like ages._

_“Yup, long time no see!” Sean grinned, “What have you been up to these days?”_

_“Nothing much different from when I was a kid actually, just helping my dad with some research.” He had another look at the uniform his friend had on, “I should be the one asking that. What are you wearing?” He asked._

_“Oh, this thing? It’s the uniform I have to wear for Team Aqua. I know it’s a little embarrassing for me to wear sometimes.” He let out a small laugh._

_“Team…Aqua? Never heard of it.” Brendan admitted._

_“Really? That’s a shame. I figured you’d be the type to be into the kind of organization it is.” Sean spoke with a slight tone of disappointment in his voice._

_“What do you mean the type of organization I’d be into?” He asked, feeling even more confused now._

_“Well, you care a lot about the lives of Pokemon don’t you? Of course you do, that was stupid of me to ask…Anyway what we stand for is simple; improving and protecting the lives of Pokemon.” Sean explained._

_Brendan nodded, beginning to understand why his friend would be attracted to these people. “So where does the ‘Aqua’ part come into all of this?” He questioned._

_“Lots of Pokemon live and rely on the ocean, right? That’s the main thing we want to improve, the sea. We humans have ruined it for them, so with more sea water the more resources there are for Pokemon.”_

_The other boy became intrigued by his explanation. Could such a thing really work? How could such a thing work was what was a more important question to him. The more he thought about the idea as a whole, the less sense it seemed to make to him. It would be practically impossible for a group of humans to expand the ocean as a whole. Brendan sighed, "Sorry, Sean, but it looks like you were wrong about that. None of this seems possible or worth joining."_

_Sean's eyes widened slightly before he responded to his friend, "Of course it's possible! All we need is the ancient Pokemon Kyogre!" He huffed back._

_"Kyogre...?"  The name rung a bell from stories he read when he was younger, "Isn't that a legendary? As in nearly impossible to find?"_

_"Perhaps for some, but we've been planning for some time on how we can get 'em." Sean informed him confidently._

_With this information explained, Brendan's doubts began to disappear. He still felt a sense of worry in it all, especially with the fact that one of his own friends was involved. "Even if they've been planning all of this...it's still dangerous. I don't think you should even be a part of it." He spoke with a slight nervous tone._

_Sean began to scowl at his friend, enraged that he thought he had no idea what he was doing. "I'd rather risk my life than allow the entire population of Pokemon suffer while we humans do nothing to fix what we've done to them!" He shouted at him._

_Brendan backed away a bit from Sean, feeling even more nervous than before. "Y-you'd really sacrifice yourself for that cause?"_

_"Of course I would, wouldn't you?! You're always looking out for Pokemon, wanting to protect them. Well, this is your chance to finally do that! You can help them on a much larger scale than you ever dreamed if you help us."_

_Brendan looked above the both of them, avoiding eye contact with the other before he could think of what else to say to him. Looking up, Brendan caught glimpse of a Beautifly that was quickly followed by an entire flock as they all flew across the sky towards the forest. The sight of these innocent Pokemon further proved his friends' point; their lives were sacred. They needed to be helped from the damage humans had done to them. Brendan looked back down and at Sean before he began talking again, "You're right. I'm sorry I doubted you there, Sean. I'll join Team Aqua. For you.......and them."_

_Sean only grinned as a response to his answer._

* * *

 

The base of Team Aqua was rather rowdy at the moment to say the least. The entire group was disappointed at the loss earlier that day. Without the parts, creating the submarine would be much more difficult for them. Among the noisy crowd was Brendan, who was busy looking over where Sean had been hit from his fight. "Brendan, I already told you I'm okay, you can stop now." He grumbled to him.

"Calm down, I'm just looking over it one more time. What the hell did that girl do to you exactly?" He asked, looking at the bruises on Sean's face.

"I don't know, not that much really. She just started wailing on me for a bit before her friend told her to stop. The worst thing that I got was a bloody nose." He informed him.

Brendan sighed and backed away from his friend a bit. Sean felt relieved and leaned back against the wall, "What was it that we had to do tomorrow? Something about a mountain...?" He mumbled.

"You mean Mt. Chimney? We're heading out there tomorrow. I'm guessing Magma's gonna be there too, judging by what happened today." Brendan informed him.

"Oh yeah, right! Are you bringing Mudkip this time?" 

"Probably, considering what I just told you." 

"Good, it'll be awesome seeing you actually battle for once. I was beginning to wonder if you're even capable of battling for a while there." Sean snickered.

"I'm more of a researcher, remember?" Brendan reminded him with an aggravated voice. 

"Right, sure you are," Sean stopped leaning against the wall and thought for a moment, "Hey, since you're ready to fight tomorrow, maybe you could fight that girl from today to sort of, ya know, avenge me?"

The other grunt raised an eyebrow at him, "I don't know about fight her, but I would like to meet her, even if she is from the other team."

"Well, good luck with that," Sean gave him a slight grin. "I don't think she's much of a talker, unlike you."   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's about time I finished this chapter...
> 
> Brendan you poor thing, you have no idea what's about to happen to you.


End file.
